


Monster

by Aarashi



Category: One Piece
Genre: After Enies Lobby, Consequences, Conversations, Friendship, Gen, Monster - Freeform, Nakamaship, Trust, Water Seven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 19:12:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19409617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aarashi/pseuds/Aarashi
Summary: “Zoro.”“Hum?”“What… what happened back then?”His voice was weak, insecure. The swordsman gave him a serious look.“Are you sure you wanna know?”(...)“I turned into a monster.”





	Monster

The last bandages had been left on the table. Chopper took them and saved them in his bag, which had been considerably emptied after all the treatments.

“Hey, Chopper, you still here?” Sanji put his head out the kitchen. “You’ve been quite busy with us lately. Don’t wanna eat anything?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine, thanks.”

“You sure? Well, there are still some desserts in the fridge, but anyway call me if you change your mind.”

“Thank you, Sanji.”

The cook left the room and Chopper found himself alone again. He cleaned the remains of blood he had left in his hooves. Luffy’s wounds had been particularly severe that time. It would be some days before he woke up.

Chopper raised his head when he heard the door. He recognized Zoro by his scent before he saw him.

“Hey.” The swordsman approached to the table and looked around. “Is anything left to eat?”

“Sanji said there were some desserts in the fridge.”

“Hum…”

Zoro opened the fridge, took a look inside and ended up taking a plate full of little cakes. He sat at the table. Chopper doubted.

“I heard you lost a sword.”

Zoro, who had raised a cake towards his mouth, stopped in midair for a second.

“Yeah. One of the marines oxidized it.”

He took a bite. Chopper waited before speaking again.

“Zoro.”

“Hum?”

“What… what happened back then?”

His voice was weak, insecure. The swordsman gave him a serious look.

“Are you sure you wanna know?”

Chopper said nothing. No, he was not sure, he was not sure at all. He did not want to hear how much damage had caused to his friends, he did not want to hear what kind of creature he had turned into. He was afraid.

But he needed to know.

He nodded, slowly. Zoro sighed.

“You threw Franky from a terrace. You attacked Nami. For what I heard, you also threw a bath that nearly kills the cook, but that ended up being useful. You tried to attack me and Us— Sogeking, I mean. Then Franky threw you to the sea so you returned to your usual form. That’s what happened, more or less.”

Zoro held his gaze for a while.

“I see.”

Chopper did not know how he found his voice. He felt weird, absent, as if he was alone in some other place, far away, and Zoro’s words were just a memory.

A strangely vivid memory.

It felt like he had forgotten about breathing. He nearly jumped when he heard Zoro moving his plate away and sitting straight.

“That… transformation or whatever…” he said. “Did someone cause it?”

“No. It was me. Just me.”

“That was what I thought.”

Zoro did not sound reproachful or surprised. Still, Chopper felt the urge to explain it.

“I knew what would happen, but… it was the only way to fight that CP9 guy because… because we needed to save Robin and I wanted to help but I wasn’t strong enough and…” He stopped. There were tears of rage in his eyes, but he managed to contain them. “I’m—”

“What are you apologizing for?”

Chopper raised his eyes. Again, Zoro did not look angry. He just looked like he really wanted an answer.

“You did that so you were able to fight, didn’t you? You knew what’d happen. Do you regret it? Do you think you’d had been able to get the key otherwise?”

Chopper said nothing. Deep inside, he was afraid of the answer.

Zoro sighed and relaxed in the chair.

“Well… I’m no one to throw anything in your face and anyway you didn’t do anything that couldn’t be fixed.”

“I turned into a monster.” Chopper’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Yeah, I guess you can see it that way.” Chopper looked at him, surprised, but Zoro remained calm, his voice low. “Is it that bad for you?”

That time, Chopper was not able to answer. He knew he would burst into tears if he did it.

“Okay,” Zoro said. “It doesn’t matter. In the end, it’s the way you see it the only thing that should matter, so I won’t tell you anything about that, but… you need to be aware. If you’ve got a power that not only you can’t control, but that it can also be dangerous for your comrades; in the end, a power that can turn against you, it’s not something you can rely on in a battle.”

Chopper stayed silent.

“It’s not just about us,” Zoro added suddenly. He gave Chopper a sideways look. “If Franky hadn’t stopped you back then, you could have died.”

Again, Chopper felt like he was in a distant place. The hole he had in his mind since he had eaten the third rumble ball was burning him. He could have killed. He could have died.

And he could not even remember.

“Hey, Chopper.”

Zoro looked worried now. Chopper breathed.

“If I could control it, if I was stronger…”

He took another breath, noticing for the first time the tears that were crossing his cheeks. He dried them impatiently. He breathed again. He waited. His muscles relaxed.

He felt so tired.

Chopper let his head rest on the table, slowly. Zoro was watching him attentively. Finally, the reindeer said:

“You did not try to hurt me. Even when I almost killed you.”

Zoro smiled.

“You still had that red hat with you. Did you really think we would try to hurt you?”

Chopper laughed nervously and sniffed.

“Now, why don’t you ask the cook to prepare something?” Zoro suggested, in a much lighter voice. “You haven’t stopped since we got back and you look like…”

Zoro had not finished speaking when Chopper stretched his leg and took one of the cakes from the plate.

“Hey, that was mine, you bastard!”

“Oi, marimo!” Sanji’s voice came from the other room. “Are you stealing our doctor’s food?”

“He offered it to me in the first place, idiot!”

Chopper tried to fight against Zoro’s hands and he ended up jumping into his shoulder. The swordsman sighed with resignation and passed him a cake. Chopper smiled while he got comfortable.

Up there, it was hard to feel like a monster.


End file.
